Rio Blows It Out In Five Wild Days Of Unholy Revelry

January 06, 1985|By George Bryant.

RIO DE JANEIRO — The drums throb and pulse like drug-fevered heartbeats, deep, atavistic, hypnotic, and the crowd moves, sways, undulates to their compelling rhythm.

The woman, brown, beaded, near-naked, one of thousands caught up in the rhythm, moves sinuously in on her prey, her body one with the samba music. The throng, caught by the drums, led by the drums, driven by the drums, roars approval.

Her prey, a camera-toting tourist, a white speck in a brown sea, momentarily catches the beat and moves to the music.

But then, far from the mores of his northern home, intimidated by the thrust, the vigor, the animalism of the music and the pressing crowd and by the pelvic aggression of his lithesome attacker, he breaks and flees, pushing his way back into the masses.

But there`s no escape, really. This is Carnival in Rio, the biggest, wildest, most abandoned pre-Lenten festival in the world, five days of revelry, sex and exhibitionism when a whole city celebrates the joys of the flesh.

And, as that tourist knows, it`s no place for the faint of heart or the easily embarrassed. Not that the mood of the street crowds is ugly. Anything but. It is one of joy, though joy with carnal overtones never found or even imagined in cities of our northern clime.

NOR, SURPRISINGLY, is everyone drunk or on drugs. There are plenty who are, of course, but as many or more who aren`t and at the daylight parades, or blockos, there are children everywhere (lacking a Halloween, this is their time for costumes), and smiles are as prevalent as samba drums. But children have little to do with Carnival in a city where even in ordinary times lust is a way of life, magnificent brown bottoms give the beaches world renown, and the hot humid air breathes sensualism. Add the freedom of Carnival to that, and you get an approximation of what life must have been like in Pompeii and other fleshpots of history.

There is one vast difference between the historic cities of sin and Rio in the flush of Carnival. This is a Latin country trying to throw off its inhibitions in one vast outpouring before Lent, but even drunk and drugged, it can`t quite cast them away in public. Behind the scenes, at the balls and private parties, yes. But not out there on the streets.in public. Behind the scenes, at the balls and private parties, yes. But not out there on the streets.

Which is why you`ll rarely see anything more than suggestive movements

--though some will be pretty explicit--at the street parades and block parties. The drums may pound and the hips may sway, but there`s a culture block that cries ``halt`` even at Carnival.

A lot wilder are the official balls, the ones most tourists opt to attend, where costumes may range from a few strips of cloth or topless ensembles to thousand-dollar outfits, and little is left to the imagination.

EVEN HERE the early evening is only a little wilder, a little more naked, a little more suggestive than the confrontations on the street. Only as the parties wind down, at dawn or later, with the drums still driving, naked or near-naked women dance on the tables, scant-clad couples wander off into the sunrise and others, too exhilarated or exhausted to care, grope at each other amidst the empty bottles, torn decorations and litter.

Then, as the last slumping revelers disperse, somewhere on the streets a samba drum throbs into life, falters, catches, then throbs anew, drawing the homeward bound and the newly risen to another parade, another party, a continuation of Carnival.

Officially, Carnival is celebrated the last three days before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (Feb. 20 this winter), but in fact the preparations start in December and the parties in January, so that by the time Carnival rolls around everyone here is really in the mood. It`s a rare visitor who doesn`t get caught up in the excitement once the drums begin to thud.

The big weekend, of course, is the one before Ash Wednesday, and this winter that will run from Friday, Feb. 15, to Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), Feb. 19, with a Friday-night champagne ball atop magnificent Sugarloaf Mountain to get the revelries under way. It runs from mid-evening until dawn and offers one of the world`s most spectacular views along with some of the world`s most unusual dancing partners.

THEN, SATURDAY morning, the Black Ball Band hits the streets, King Carnival emerges from his year-long sleep to strut and preen, the commercial life of the city winds to a halt and the world`s biggest party is on.

All that day and for the next three there are neighborhood parades, or block parties, swaying processions of adults and children in every conceivable costume or none, following the bands and the samba beat wherever they lead. Every neighborhood has them, but Copacabana and Ipanema are two you`ll find easily.